Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age is an American rock band from Palm Desert, California, United States, formed in 1996. The band's line-up includes founder Josh Homme (lead vocals, guitar, piano), alongside longtime members Troy Van Leeuwen (guitar, lap steel, keyboard, percussion, backing vocals), Michael Shuman (bass guitar, keyboard, backing vocals), Dean Fertita (keyboards, guitar, percussion, backing vocals) , and recent addition Jon Theodore (drums, percussion). Formed after the dissolution of Homme's previous band, Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age developed a style of riff-oriented, heavy rock music. Their sound has since evolved to incorporate a variety of different styles and influences. Early career ''(1996–1998) Queens of the Stone Age began with Josh Homme in 1996. After the breakup of Kyuss in 1995, Homme had briefly joined The Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist,4 before deciding to form a new band of his own. Originally naming his new project 'Gamma Ray', Homme was forced to change the name in 1997, as German power metal band Gamma Ray, who have been around since 1989, was threatening to sue: “ When we were making a record in 1992, under the band Kyuss, our producer Chris Goss, he would joke and say "You guys are like the queens of the stone age." The band was originally called Gamma Ray, but we got threatened with a lawsuit because someone else had it. So we were Queens of the Stone Age. ” —Oliveri, (2000) On why the band chose the name 'Queens of the Stone Age' rather than 'Kings of the Stone Age': “ Kings would be too macho. The Kings of the Stone Age wear armor and have axes and wrestle. The Queens of the Stone Age hang out with the Kings of the Stone Age's girlfriends when they wrestle, and also it was a name given to us by Chris Goss. He gave us the name Queens of the Stone Age. Rock should be heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls. That way everyone's happy and it's more of a party. Kings of the Stone Age is too lopsided. ” —Homme, (2000) The band's first release was Gamma Ray , a two-track EP featuring the songs "Born to Hula" and "If Only Everything" (which would later appear on their self-titled debut as 'If Only'), released in January 1996, featuring Joshua Homme (Kyuss), Matt Cameron (Soundgarden and Pearl Jam), Van Conner (Screaming Trees) and John McBain (Monster Magnet).5 The band's first live appearance was on November 20, 1997, at OK Hotel in Seattle, Washington. In December of the same year, the band released a split EP, Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age, which was the first official release by the band under the name Queens of the Stone Age, and featured three tracks from the Gamma Ray sessions as well as three Kyuss tracks recorded in 1995 just prior to their break-up. ''Queens of the Stone Age (1997–1999) Josh entered the studio in April 1998 with former Kyuss drummer Alfredo Hernández to create what is now known as the band's debut album in a span of a little over three weeks. Aside from the minimal recording credits given to Josh and Alfredo, a handful of longtime friends and collaborators also contributed to the album including Chris Goss, Dave Catching, Hutch and Carlo Van Sexron (Josh's alter ego credited for playing a majority of bass, piano and keyboard on the album). A large fraction of the songs that ended up on the LP were re-recordings of songs created by various previous projects headed by Josh including the Desert Sessions, the Gamma Ray sessions and the Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age split LP. The resulting self titled album offers a complilation of "robot rock" (as dubbed by Josh) and featured repetitive, heavy riffs played in the C standard guitar tuning Josh has become known for. Nick Oliveri joined the band soon after the album's release to play bass on the coinciding tour. Sales and reception for the album started out stagnant because of many store's refusal to stock the LP due to it's controversial artwork. The album was certified silver in the UK by February 2006 and merited a more commercial re-release in 2011. The band further promoted the re-release by partaking on a short tour in which they would play the entire album from start to finish. Rated R (1999–2001) Songs for the Deaf (2001–2004) Lullabies to Paralyze (2004–2006) Era Vulgaris (2006–2008) Hiatus and self-titled reissue tour (2009–2011) During 2009 and 2010, band members worked on side projects during the down time. Troy Van Leeuwen started up a new band, Sweethead. Joey Castillo played for Eagles of Death Metal on their Heart On tour. Bassist Michael Shuman became the new drummer and singer in the band Mini Mansions, while Dean Fertita became the guitarist/keyboardist for Jack White's newest group, The Dead Weather. Josh Homme formed supergroup Them Crooked Vultures with Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones. In 2010, the band toured and released a two CD deluxe edition of Rated R on August 3, 2010. This edition featured the original CD along with six B-sides and live recordings from the band's Reading performance in 2000. They released a remastered version of their first self-titled album early 2011, and toured the record, performing it in its entirety. They have also played at the Australian festival Soundwave in 2011. The band performed on Conan on April 14. On June 26, 2011 they appeared at the Glastonbury Festival, in Somerset, UK. They also played at Pearl Jam's 20th Anniversary Festival at Alpine Valley in East Troy, WI on September 3 and 4, 2011, which would be their last with drummer Joey Castillo. ...Like Clockwork (2011–present)